As the Umno general assembly gets underway, there are growing calls for the party's top two-posts not to be contested.

However, Umno information chief Annuar Musa said that party president Najib Abdul Razak is the most democratic leader the party has ever had and made it possible for anyone to contest the presidency.

This he said, was in contrast with the way things worked under Dr Mahathir Mohamad, where a potential candidate needed to fulfil a quota of divisions supporting the nomination.

"Najib is not free from sin, neither is Mahathir, but if you compare the two, Najib is far more open as a leader...